EagleInKY

Sorry I didn't read this in time Proud Eagle. I've got some information in the Okpik book. I could scan and send to you via e-mail. You're probably already on the road. PM me if you are not. I feel your pain. We normally get together Christmas Eve (today) with the inlaws. We had to convince them to delay, but they would only hear of delaying until tomorrow. So, we're on the road anyway. They're in the central part of the state and only got rain. We're sitting here with 10-12 inches of snow and the roads aren't cleared. But that's not what's important, right?

Forums go through different periods. I've been involved with this forum for a little over a year. There have been some great periods of scout-like discussion, some periods of petty bickering and fights, periods with a real psycho-philosophical dude (whew, glad he's gone), and periods of down-right dullness. I must admit, I was getting bored with the board a few months ago. We've gotten some fresh faces as of late, and we've had more of a focus on scouting topics. That's been refreshing for the board. I hope this trend keeps up, and we talk less about HWCBN.

I may sometimes come off as a know-it-all. I don't mean too. Besides being an Eagle, I've been involved with scouting for over 30 years (over 20 registered). My dad has over 30 years and my mom close to 20 (both Silver Beavers). Brother's an Eagle as well. When you've been so involved with something, it's hard to not know "an" answer to a question. The challenge, of course, is knowing the right one. I must admit, I've learned more this past 18 months than during just about any portion of my scouting career.

I hear there's a whole team-full of them in Philadelphia. Sorry, bad joke.

We go camping once in the winter (Dec-early Mar), usually the district Klondike. We may go cabin camping if we get the opportunity. To keep things going, we supplement with other activities (snow tubing, MB workshops, JLT, indoor climbing, etc.).

Google on "charter orgnaization agreement" and you'll get some information. The following is a document that your CO signed with council. I believe our council reviews this with the COs every year or so. http://www.danbeard.org/pdf/annual_charter_agreement.pdf

Definitely a ceremony where you get as many of the past scouts there would be great. I believe that will - by far - mean the most to him. The honorary award is a very nice idea too. Unfortunately, it is will mean ongoing work, and future members may not appreciate it as much as the current ones do. Do you have a bunch of Eagle's from that time period? An Eagle plaque, like the scout shop sells, is very nice. You can list all the names of the Eagles through the years. Also, a plaque on the wall at your meeting place honoring him is a nice sentiment.

This is fresh on my mind because I plan to present it to the committee in a couple of weeks. As a young troop (closing on two years), our goals are still pretty basic. We're trying to build boy leadership, increase the "fun factor" and maintain advancement levels. The goals for 2005 include: strengthening our SPL & PLs through coaching and support, build more patrol spirit (too much focus at the troop level today), focusing in on having more fun and worry less about everything being perfect, make improvements to our first year scouter program, training adult leaders (Committee training and MB counselor orientation are at the top of the list), retooling how we handle actitivies (too much is put on me and the Activities chairman), improving communications (the majority of issues that spring up during the year could have probably been handled with better communications).

Spiney - It's a council based policy. Some councils establish a date for all units, while others have units rechartering throughout the year. The majority of our council's units recharter on February 1. They're trying to get everyone there, but some units don't want to change. Feb 1 works pretty well because it's after the end-of-year schedules and it lines up pretty close to crossover. But you could make arguments for doing it at several different times of the year.

Well said, Mark. I couldn't have written it better myself. Bob and I have butted heads on more than one occasion, and I agree it is much more do to style than anything else. If he comes back, I certainly hope we see a "kinder, gentler Bob". BTW, he is alive, I saw him in the chat room last night.

I faced this once in 5 years as a CM. It was the den leader's son in that case. He felt he was more mature than all the other boys (which was anything but the case, but that's another topic). I'll tell you what our "policy" (term used loosely) is. I was berated on this board for what we did, but I still think it worked best. We do a nice AOL ceremony at B&G, and a nice crossover ceremony in March. If a boy decides to go early, we'll present him his AOL at a pack meeting, but it will be just your basic "call the parents up, pin the badge on and congratulate him" ceremony. Nothing fancy or formal. If he wants fancy or formal, he's welcome to come back to the B&G and participate in it. He also forfeits the right to participate in anything else, such as PWD or other activities. The reason I was criticized was people felt that he deserved a nice ceremony as much as the next guy. While that may be true, it's not realistic, in my mind, for the CM to be responsible for organizing special ceremonies every month. We gave him an option (come back at B&G). It's up to him if he really wants to or not. In the end, I believe it's your call. Since you're personally attached, I would get buy-in from the CC and CAs. Good luck.

Great ideas. Thanks.

I like the idea of two levels of JLTC. I can see a need for that in our troop the next couple of years. I did change the sylabus of JLT this year. It was the second time for us, and about 1/2 of the boys attending it had been through it the previous year. Much of the core material was the same, but I added some different games and actitivies. I also used less of the video. I tailored it to some of their specific needs. It was funny, at lunch, the 2nd year guys thought they knew what was going to happen (the bags with different items in them). Instead, they walked into the room and the only thing there was a box full of stuff. They had to figure out what they had, divide it up and serve it. A little curve ball, but they handled it well. And, they remembered to say grace this time. I'll be looking for some other alternatives when next year's rolls around. I've gotten some good ideas off of a variety of JLT sites. Anyone have any other advice or ideas? Barry - How is the 3 hour version structured?

Great post, Barry (as usual). Our process is similar to Anarchist. We run JLTC once a year (early Fall, after elections). All Green Bars are expected to attend, other Troop leaders who have not attended JLT in the past are expected to attend. After that, scouts who have not taken JLT are encouraged to attend, including all first years. We cap it at about 12 or so, because it's not effective if you get much larger than that. I also try to get at least one adult who hasn't attended before to attend. Getting them to see it from a boys point of view helps them understand the whole boy-leadership stuff a lot better. I tell them that they are "just one of the boys" for the day. They have to resist the urge to take charge. While I agree that most of what they learn is through the normal participating in activities, I find that JLTC helps define the roles better for them and gives them a model to work from. I have seen marked improvement in the leadership skills and the boys' ability to take charge of an activity. Especially with the younger ones. (For the record, my POV is from a young troop. I imagine that after a culture is established and you have several 15-16-17 year old youth leaders demonstrating the way, JLTC probably has less of an impact.)

We just returned from a fun weekend in Huntsville, AL at the US Space & Rocket Center. They offer a Space Exporation Merit Badge program for scouts. It's very well-taught and very reasonably priced. Our guys enjoyed the museum, saw the IMAX about the International Space Station and shot rockets. Plus, they have some simulators and a rock climbing wall that added some more fun. http://www.spacecamp.com/museum/scouts/ I thought this was worth sharing. If you're in the area, it's worth the effort. I would recommend it as a great program for younger scouts.

Why keep in touch with your CO? (Besides the obvious) You want to stay in good graces with them. At some point, someone will make noise about something. Perhaps it was something that got damaged at the building, perhaps it was that another group couldn't use the building on "troop night", perhaps a member doesn't like the BSA stance on (fill in the blank). Whatever the case, sometime, somewhere, something will not go right. If, when that happens, you are "just some group that uses the building", then you may find yourself on the street after that. But, if you have an ongoing relationship and they understand who you are, why you're there and what you're doing.... then you'll survive the bumpy times. Why do I say this? It happened to us. Several years ago, our pack was "kicked out" over a little misunderstand.

Former CO for pack (Methodist Church) CO - 0 COR - 1 (He was more involved with the troop) Pastor - Negative 9,999,999 (how low can you go) Current CO for pack and troop (Baptist church) CO - 8 COR - 8.5

Welcome to the campfire blade. And don't forget, some of the fellows are ladies. Glad to have you here!

Not sure if I'd call it "High Adventure", but there's a decent amount of stuff to do. The National Park campground is nice. Only one showerhouse, and you have to pay for it. It's great for a weekend. There are several cave tours, ranging from the simple to the serious spelunking. I saw a group of venturers go in the morning and come out that evening. They were covered in mud from head to toe. You could easily spend 2 days doing cave activities. There are several others caves in the area, if your guys are really into spelunking, you could visit some of those. There's one down in Bowling Green that has a river and a boat cruise in it. That looked pretty neat, but we didn't make it down to it. The Green River is right there. Decent canoeing, but no rapids to speak of. You also have to be very careful about underwater caves. We nearly lost a canoe in one. There are a few places to climb and rapel. I haven't done any in that area, so I can't tell you much about that. There are some decent trails. The Corvette Museum is also there, your guys would think that is cool. There's a few other touristy things and Kentucky Down Under, which is geared for more the Cub Scout age (has Australian animals).

Lex - A follow-up thought... Building on the idea of you being the COR and recruiting three CCs... You could take Semper's idea of a Scout program committee, which could be comprised of you, the three CCs and the three unit leaders. You guys get together about once a quarter to sync calendars and see if there are ways to help each other out. It could work effectively, without creating a bunch of red tape. You wouldn't want to see one committee oversee everything. Keep the unit committees in place to run their programs.

We always say "cut a corner" not "tear a corner", but the same principle. I've heard it talked about and threatened. I've never seen it actually done. But I know some do.

I agree with all the above. Semper makes a good point. And, to emphasize what he said, they will have to demonstrate this AGAIN after they become a boy scout. They can't walk into their first troop meeting and say, "Hey, we did that last year, gimme my card".

If the Jewish faith stood for something that was in total opposition of what the program represented, and by admitting them they would be detracting from the program, then they would have every right to exclude them. You've chosen a "faith", or lack thereof, that is incongruent with Scouting's values. Yet, you expect the program to change. How selfish of you.

It sounds like you've got the basis for a great scouting program. Based on your short description, I'll offer a few suggestions. First, perhaps you should actually be the COR, and not the CC. I believe it is a lot to ask to be the CC for three groups. While the CC for any one unit is not as busy as the unit leader, doing it for three has got to be a busy job. Second, try to get some cross-pollenization on the committees. For example, get your Webelos leader to be on the troop committee. By attending the committee meetings and occasional function, they'll have a better understanding of the boy scout program. You can probably do a similar thing between the crew and the troop. Our CM sits on our troop committee and I (SM) am currently the CC for the pack (although I hope to eventually move to just a committee member role). Look for opportunities to serve each other. The troop can help run the pinewood derby and the pack could let them conduct a fund raiser at it. The crew could put on a rocket derby or field day in the summer. Keep up the great work. It sounds like we're running along similar paths (although we haven't gotten to the venture stage yet). Good luck.

Trevor - Nope, he is not part of the board and has no say in the decision. I can imagine some situations where the board may want to clarify something and ask him to come in. But that's a stretch.